Rumor About Watch Prizes at CSUN Untrue

Cal State Northridge athletic officials have been falsely accused in a rumor making its way around campus.

Several players from Northridge’s 1990 football team observed coaches wearing watches that commemorate their Western Football Conference co-championship. The players deduced the watches should have gone to the players and were pilfered by the school.

The rumor spread that the WFC sent the watches to Northridge expecting school officials to distribute them among the players. Instead, the story goes, they were given to coaches and boosters.

There is truth to the rumor in that the watches do exist and that the people wearing them are mostly coaches and boosters. However, they were not awarded by the WFC and were never intended for players.

About 175 to 200 watches were purchased by the Northridge development office as tee prizes for a golf tournament benefiting the football program in the spring of 1991.

“It was a booster function,” said Paul Bubb, CSUN’s director of athletic development. “You get a prize just for playing. This time, instead of a hat or a T-shirt, they got a watch.”

The watches have the school logo on the face, “Cal State Northridge Football” inscribed at the top, and an error inscribed at the bottom.

Instead of 1990 co-champions, the bottom inscription reads, “1991 WFC champions.”

So what did they expect for $14 each?

For the record, Vic Buccola, commissioner of the WFC, says players from championship teams receive certificates from the conference. Northridge players have theirs.

GOING BOWLING

There are five junior college football bowl games Dec. 5 and, barring major upsets today, at least seven of the 10 teams are set.

Win or lose, Bakersfield is set to play host to the Potato Bowl. The winner of today’s Moorpark-Glendale game will play Bakersfield and the loser will play host to the Western State Conference Bowl.

Saddleback, Mt. San Antonio and Palomar, the division winners in the Mission Conference, will take three of the four slots in the Orange County Classic and Orange County Bowl. If San Bernardino plays in the Orange County Bowl, Desert probably will assume the host role in the Southern California Bowl.

That would leave only two open slots--one in the Southern California Bowl and another in the WSC Bowl.

The top teams under consideration are Antelope Valley (6-2-1), El Camino (7-2), Pasadena (7-2) and Orange Coast (6-3).

RETURN ENGAGEMENT

This weekend in Kenosha, Wis., Jesse Taylor will become the first male runner from The Master’s College to compete in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics cross-country championships. But it will not be the first time that Taylor has run in the meet.

The senior placed 36th in the 1989 championships to help Adams State (Colo.) to its seventh consecutive title, and he followed that with a fifth-place finish in the two-mile at the 1990 NAIA indoor track championships.

Running soon became more work than fun for Taylor, however, and he transferred to Master’s last fall.

“I wanted to go to a school that was more spiritually oriented,” Taylor said. “I’m not trying to knock the Adams State program. They’ve had an incredible amount of success, but it just wasn’t for me. Running ended up being like a job, and that’s not what I wanted.”

Taylor figured his collegiate running career was over after his departure from Adams State, but after spending last summer training in his hometown of Los Alamos, N.M., he returned to Master’s and persuaded Athletic Director Mel Hankinson to revive the Mustang cross-country program. Cross-country had been dropped the previous year because of a lack of interest.

“I’ve enjoyed this season a lot,” Taylor said. “I’m enjoying running again, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some of the times I’ve run.”

TERMINATOR, TOO

Missy Clements, a 5-foot-11 outside hitter for the Northridge women’s volleyball team, made the most of her first start of the season last Saturday in a match at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Clements, a sophomore from La Habra High, had a season-high 18 kills to help the Matadors to a 14-16, 15-9, 15-7, 15-7 victory.

Although Clements replaced former high school teammate Ana Kristich in the starting lineup, Northridge Coach Walt Ker said it was not a case of Kristich playing poorly but of Clements simply improving.

“Missy has not only played well in games, but her practices have been outstanding for the last few weeks,” Ker said. “She has just been terminating the ball on a very consistent basis.”

GEE WHIZ

A number of Ventura College football players had little experience with losing heading into this season. So the Pirates went out and lost their first seven games before beating Santa Barbara City College, 24-18, last Saturday night.

But no one was as ill-prepared for the changing fortunes as freshman running back Mike Gee, whose Oceanside El Camino High team won three consecutive San Diego Section titles.

“It feels great to finally get a win,” said Gee, who was chosen the Western State Conference offensive player of the week after rushing for 190 yards and one touchdown in 27 carries.

“There was a lot of pressure on (Coach Dick James) that we had to get a win before the season ended,” Gee said. “All of us freshmen wanted him back for our sophomore years.”

LAST LAUGH

With no chance for an NCAA Division II playoff berth, the Cal State Northridge football team had nothing but pride to play for in its season finale last Saturday night. With the Raiders’ Eric Dickerson (a friend of CSUN assistant LeRoy Irvin) on the sideline providing inspiration, the Matadors recorded a 23-17 win over 11th-ranked Cal State Sacramento.

“Our coaches did a good job planning and play calling, and it was the attitude of our players,” said Coach Bob Burt, whose team finished 5-5. “We just decided we’re winners. People may think we’re losers, but we’re winners and what better way to prove that then to beat a team that’s supposed to be unbeatable. I’m real proud of these kids.”

ADDING PERSPECTIVE

Jim Fenwick has been on both sides of the ball in the Pierce-Valley football rivalry. On Saturday he will complete his second season as Valley’s football coach. He coached Pierce from 1981-85.

So who better to ask about the traditional game between the only junior colleges on the San Fernando Valley floor?

“Everybody wants me to say it’s huge,” Fenwick said. “But really, it’s not like it’s SC-UCLA.”

With a win, Valley can douse Pierce’s flickering hopes of a bowl bid. However, Fenwick said his players should be more concerned with attaining their own goals.

“We’re trying to focus on a winning season,” he said. “If we win, we get it. Pierce just happens to be the team standing in the way.”

AIR-TRAFFIC CONTROL

After outscoring Ventura and Compton by a combined 131-7, Glendale found itself behind, 10-3, against Harbor last week--much to the delight of the Vaquero coaching staff. “They were stacking everyone up front against us and daring us to pass. So we did,” Cicuto said. “It was good to see how our kids were going to react in that situation.”

Eric Kiesau, Glendale’s quarterback, responded by completing 16 of 25 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns.

In Glendale’s two previous games, the Vaqueros attempted only 30 passes.

“It was good that we got to work on our passing game,” Cicuto said. “Against Moorpark, we’re going to have to have all our guns loaded.”